


Surfacing

by theskywasblue



Category: Wild Adapter
Genre: Healing, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-07
Updated: 2010-07-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 10:42:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/98864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In videogames, the hero always killed the monster, saved the princess. In real life it was different. Sometimes the monsters were stronger. Sometimes the monsters were really the heroes and saved each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surfacing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rroselavy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rroselavy/gifts).



> For the prompt "Kubota/Tokitoh - Hurt/Comfort, but no fluff"

Tokitoh stood over the sink, watching a long ribbon of pink saliva run out past his lips and trickle into the basin. His body was mostly warm again and the bathroom smelled of soap and salt water. His skin still stung faintly in a lot of places and was bruised in even more; but he was alive, which was more than he had expected.

It seemed a little strange because, in videogames, the hero always killed the monster, saved the princess. In real life it was different. Sometimes the monsters were stronger. Sometimes the monsters were really the heroes and saved each other. It was all tangled up in knots.

"Are you ready?"

Kubota leaned against Tokitoh's back, hand next to his on the edge of the sink, chin on his shoulder. Tokitoh watched his reflection as he probed the loose molar with the tip of his tongue, feeling nauseated as it swayed and bumped against his cheek, tasting blood for the hundredth time that night.

"You should really do this yourself."

"Can't..." Tokitoh shuddered at the thought of flesh tearing apart under his fingertips, at the half-realized image of accidentally pulling his whole jaw apart with that strange hand that was somehow attached to his wrist, but wasn't really his. "Please Kubo-chan..."

The single light bulb overhead cast a strange reflection on Kubota's glasses, hiding his eyes. If he said no, then Tokitoh would leave the tooth alone; let it wiggle helplessly inside his mouth, opening the wound forever.

Finally, Kubota tapped him on the chin. "Open up."

Kubota's fingers were salty, they slid over Tokitoh's tongue and caressed the split softness inside his cheek, causing a tiny spark of not-quite-pain that made Tokitoh's breath hitch. He could have bitten down, broken Kubota's skin, crushed bone, torn his fingers off and swallowed them. The urge was somehow familiar, but he didn't give in. This was an exchange of trust. Kubota trusted him not to bite down, even on reflex, and Tokitoh trusted Kubota not to cram those fingers down his throat and choke him.

Kubota gripped either side of Tokitoh's molar, tested its footing in his gum. Tokitoh's knees felt rubbery as the thought of pulling the tooth crept closer to reality, and an arm slid around his waist as support.

"Ready?"

Tokitoh could only mumble around the fingers in his mouth, and he didn't even know if he had really said yes or no, but Kubota seemed to.

A quick jerk, a wet crackle in Tokitoh's ear and it was over. The claws on his deformed hand scored the porcelain edge of the sink and then Kubota was holding up his tooth to the light, perfectly white on one end, glistening red on the other, with a tiny bit of flesh still clinging to the root. A soft sound of mourning escaped Tokitoh's throat as he doubled over and spat in the sink. His tooth clattered down into the basin, spun once like a coin tossed into one of those novelty plastic wishing wells they had at the mall and then vanished down the drain along with all the blood and salt water they had scrubbed off their bodies. A little piece of Tokitoh, lost.

Tokitoh stood over the sink that night until he couldn't taste blood anymore with Kubota's arm around his waist holding him up, the same way he had held on as they floated together on their backs and kicked for shore.

-End-


End file.
